Marysville Police Officer Amy Findley, right, holds a pad for a student at a women’s self defense class at the Marysville Public Library Saturday as other student watch on. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
Course teaches girls to defend themselves
The Marysville Public Library wasn’t just the typical calm, quiet place to read a book Saturday morning.
Instead, it was filled with dozens of teenage girls punching and kicking as part of a self-defense course.
“We really want these girls to know, you don’t have to be rescued – you can take care of yourself,” Officer Amy Findley said.
Christiana Congelio, youth services manager at the Marysville Public Library, said the library was the ideal place to host a self-defense class for teen girls.
“We see a great diversity in the people who come to the library… the library’s programming often centers on learning new things and connecting with our community in new and different ways,” she said.
Registration for the class filled within the first few days, Congelio said, demonstrating the interest for similar programs in the community. Findley said 24 women attended the two-hour course, including some teens with their mothers.
While Marysville is generally perceived as a safe community, Findley said she has been instructing women’s self-defense classes in the area for about 15 years.
“Crime occurs everywhere, I don’t care how safe of a community you have,” she said.
But, the class focuses on crime prevention.
“A lot of teens sometimes feel like, ‘It happened to them but it wouldn’t happen to me,’” she said.
For that reason, she said the class is structured in two parts: a discussion followed by teaching and practicing defensive tactics.
The discussion revolves around a mentality Findley described as “minding your surroundings.”
“We try to get them to understand the best defense is not putting yourself in that situation if you can help it,” she said.
Congelio said the class serves to raise awareness of dangerous scenarios and appropriate responses.
“It struck me that you don’t know what to look for before it happens unless you have your network… looking out for you or helping you look out for yourself,” she said.
Once attendees know what to look out for, Findley said the group gets up and practices how to break away from an aggressor.
They start off by getting into a “defensive stance” and keeping their body centered and staying on their feet.
Then, Findley said the group practices tactics that are “simple, but effective.” They include palm strikes, punches, kicks, wrist breakaways and kneeing.
The physical techniques are important, but she said it’s all about giving girls the mindset, “I can win this.”
“One thing I’ve learned is it’s so much more mental than it is physical,” Findley said.
Congelio said pretending to encounter a scenario that requires self-defense gives girls the confidence to do so if it ever happens in real life.
“By taking this class and thinking through and practicing what you would do in serious situations, you’re more able to break through that part of your brain and figure out what the best thing to do is,” Congelio said.
“There are easy ways to protect yourself without throwing a punch at all,” she added.
But, Findley said the class ends with an opportunity for the teens to fend for themselves.
She said male officers act out a scenario in which they are the aggressors and allow the teens to practice their new defense tactics.
Once they realize they can defend themselves from “a full-grown man,” Findley said women gain a feeling of empowerment they can carry with them in daily life.
“I even had a girl come up to me Saturday and say, ‘Look at the battle wounds I have from beating him,” Findley said.
Julie Goodman attempts to escape being attacked from behind by her daughter, Carly Goodman, during an exercise at a women’s self defense class at the Marysville Public Library Saturday. Some mothers took part in the course with their daughters. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)